Thursday, January 31, 2008

The latest tribulations

It's been a rough couple weeks for the boys. They've gone through a little gastro-intestinal bug and a cough/fever that led to a doctor's visit for Eldest. Nothing too major, but enough (along with a snowstorm this week) to keep them out of school and swim lessons and rock climbing (Eldest only, but read on).

Their bad luck got worse this week. We had wondered which child was going to be the first to require an ER visit. Littlest has a lot of energy and loves to climb, while Eldest is just as energetic and older and likely to attempt things his little brother just can't. The winner: Littlest! I don't think he was climbing up on the couch when this happened, but he fell into the corner of the coffee table, resulting in a little, deep bleeder of a cut between his eyelid and eyebrow. He cried for about five minutes, then went back to being in a good mood, even sucking the water out of the washcloth I was using to stop the bleeding. As I was getting everybody ready for the trip to the emergency room, he even brought his boots to me. Open wound be damned, he was ready to go outside. He got cranky at the hospital -- he couldn't eat anything and it was his nap time -- plus he kind of fought the sedation while he was getting stitched up. So he has three stitches that will come out on Sunday. In the meantime, he was climbing back on that coffee table the next day ...

Just when we resolved one medical mishap, Eldest threw up last night. We think he ate some bad cantaloupe, because all he threw up was orange chunks (sorry for the image). His stomach was upset for a while, though he eventually fell asleep, then woke up in a good mood and started telling Wife a story. His stomach was fine today, though he was really tired at preschool and fell asleep on the way home.

I'm wondering what's next. I'm worried the boys' cough is coming my way. A cough I can handle. Blood and guts (specifically, the puking thereof), not so much.